Tobit 4,19 and Romans 9,18: An Intertextual Study Among some major commentaries on Romans, the only author who makes any mention at all of a relationship between Rom 9,18 and Tob 4,19 is James D.G. Dunn (1), who does so only in passing by referring to another scholar, simply writing: “Mayer, 195, refers particularly to 1 Sam 2,25 [sic, read 2,7]; Tob 4,19; Jud[ith] 8,14-15” (2). But Mayer makes no further comment on Tob 4,19. Yet, as we shall see, there seems to be an intertextual connection between these texts of Romans and Tobit. The story of Tobit and his family is well known. Though he had lead a pious life, observing all the commands of the Law (1,1-12), he suffered many adversities. In addition to being sought out by the authorities for burying the dead (1,19) he became totally blind (2,10), with the result that he suffered the further indignity of having to rely on his wife for support (2,11) — the ultimate embarrassment for a Jewish man in the society of that day (see Sir 25,22). When Tobit refused to believe that the kid goat his wife Anna had received as a bonus from her employers, demanding that she give it back (2,13), Anna finally retorted, with ample justification, “Where are your alms, and where are your righteous acts? (2,14)” — a well deserved rebuke that pushed Tobit over the edge, so to speak. That is why he prayed for death (3,1- 6) (3). He believed, accordingly, that the Lord would let him die. Hence, he summoned his son Tobiah and gave him what he thought would be his farewell address (4,3-19.21). The key verse is 4,19 in Greek II (= GII). Since Codex Sinaiticus has a large lacuna in chap. 4 (4,7-19a), I supply what is missing in S from the GII MS. 319, which preserves the missing text (4). I likewise give some textual variants from GI and from the Old Latin, which was translated from a GII text type (5): (1) J.D.G. DUNN, Romans 9-16 (WBC 38B; Dallas, TX 1988) 555. For providing me with this information I am grateful to my colleague F.J. Matera, the Andrews-Kelly-Ryan Professor of New Testament at The Catholic University of America. (2) The book to which Dunn is referring was written by B. MAYER, Unter Gottes Heilsratschluss. Prädestinationsaussagen bei Paul (Würzburg 1974). (3) See A.A. DI LELLA, “Two Major Prayers in the Book of Tobit”, Prayer from Tobit to Qumran. Inaugural Conference to the ISDCL at Salzburg, Austria, 6.-9. July 2003 (eds. R. EGGER-WENZEL – J. CORLEY) (Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature Yearbook 2004; Berlin – New York 2004) 95-115. (4) C.A. MOORE, Tobit. A New Translation and Commentary (AB 40A; New York 1996) 162 and J.A. FITZMYER, Tobit (Commentaries on Early Jewish Literature; Berlin – New York 2003) 165, 178, apparently failed to note that MS. 319 does contain the full text of Tob 4,19, as I give it below. Yet both scholars had available and employed the critical edition of R. HANHART (ed.), Tobit (Septuaginta, Vetus Testamentum Graecum auctoritate Academiae Scientiarum Gottingensis 8/5; Göttingen 1983), which contains the text of Tob 4,19 in MS. 319, which, however, must be recovered carefully from the apparatus of GII. (5) I employ the edition of R. HANHART (ed.), Tobit, 181-182. Hanhart provides two complete forms of the Book of Tobit in Greek. He calls these forms (or recensions) Greek I (= GI), the shorter text form, and Greek II (= GII), the longer form (by about 1700 words). Almost all major manuscripts — Vaticanus, Alexandrinus, Venetus, Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1594 (= 990), and most cursive manuscripts — contain GI of Tobit, which Hanhart prints